1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color adjusting method that optimizes color signals to improve the reproduction of a color image of an object. Further, the present invention relates to a color-space transformation-matrix calculation method that optimizes matrix elements for adjusting color signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, it has become popular to digitalize images for convenience of transmitting the image information precisely between different types of devices. For example, an image input device, such as a digital camera, an image scanner, and so on, transform color images of an object to signals representing the three primary colors, such as RGB signals, and then output the signals to an image output device, such as a monitor, a printer, and the like. Generally, the image output device reproduces the color image in accordance with the RGB signals, i.e. indicating an image on a screen or printing out an image on paper. The RGB signals obtained by the image input device depend on the characteristics of the optical system of the photographing lens, color filter, imaging device, and so on. Further, the images reproduced by the image output device are also different from one another in regard to how they are reproduced even when the same RGB signals are supplied. Furthermore, the characteristics of the image input device and the image output device are different, since each device has peculiar characteristics. Therefore the reproduction of a color image based on the RGB signals is disadvantageous for reproducing the original color of the object. Therefore, the RGB signal based method is poor for reproducing precise color.
Accordingly, color signals based on the sRGB standard which is a standard for the image input devices and image output devices, is generally used these days. The image input device outputs color signals after transforming the obtained RGB signals to signals based on the sRGB standard. Thereby, precise color reproduction is performed as long as the image output devices are comparable with the sRGB standard. Namely, tints quite similar to the original object can be reproduced. A variety of methods for performing color adjustment are known in the art. For example, the reproduced color is converted to the original color by adjusting the spectrum characteristics of an optical filter, provided in an imaging system, to the sRGB standard or by transforming the RGB signals electronically by a matrix transformation.
Conventionally, multiple linear regression analysis is used to improve the accuracy of color transformation methods that use a color space transformation matrix for electronic color adjustment. The multiple linear regression analysis optimizes the matrix elements by a statistical analysis which considers the relation between the original color and the reproduced color as a cause and effect relation. Namely, the matrix elements are obtained by optimizing these elements under the condition that the difference between the signal levels of the predicted reproduced colors, which is obtained by performing a provisional color space transformation matrix operation on the RGB signals from the imaging system, and the signal levels of the original colors, is below or equal to a permissible value. For example, a method that uses multiple linear regression analysis to provide a matrix that transforms RGB signals to XYZ signals of a different calorimetric system, is disclosed in the Japanese unexamined patent publication (KOKAI) No. 10-164381.
The degree of coincidence between the reproduced colors and the original color is generally evaluated by using three elements that are based on the human physiological color sense, such as hue, saturation, and lightness. Particularly, the difference in hue tends to be sensed as a difference in tint by a person. However, the relations between the RGB signals and the hue are not linear relations, therefore, the evaluation of accuracy for the above discussed multiple linear regression analysis is difficult. Namely, even when the difference between the signal levels of the RGB signals and the signal levels of the original color is within the permissible range, the difference in the hue might be such that the colors are regarded as different colors by a person.